GORHAM, Maine – Senior Victor Perlleshi, junior Hayden Brown, sophomore Gabriel Leo-Esparolini, and freshman Joziah Fry were each crowned NCAA Division III Northeast Region Champions Sunday afternoon at the event held on the campus of the University of Southern Maine.
Complete Brackets
The Wildcats won the team competition, finishing with 175.5 points, which was 30 ahead of second-place Coast Guard and 63 points clear of third-place Springfield.
Fry – who is ranked No. 1 nationally at 125 lbs. – advanced to the finals with a fall in 4:22 before securing a 9-6 decision in the finals. Leo-Esparolini picked up a 6-3 decision in the semis before scoring a 12-1 decision in the finals to place first at 133 lbs. after entering the event as the No. 3 seed.
Perlleshi, meanwhile, came from the No. 5 spot to win a 7-3 decision in the semis and an 8-4 decision in the finals at 141 lbs. The top-seeded Brown was a 4-1 winner by decision in the semifinals and clinched first-place at 157 lbs. when his opponent in the finals withdrew.
Sophomore Dylan Harr was on the winning end of a 2-1 decision in the semifinals before dropping a 4-3 decision in the finals at 197 lbs. to place second. Graduate student Michael Ross was a 14-0 winner by decision in the semifinals, but withdrew from the finals to place second.
Graduate student Liridon Leka (285 lbs.) finished sixth after going 1-1 on the afternoon. Graduate student William Hughes (157 lbs.), senior Ryan DeVivo (184 lbs.), and sophomore Patrick Wisniewski (165 lbs.) all closed the two-day tournament with a 2-2 record and placed seventh.
By virtue of a top three finish, Fry, Leo-Esparolini, Perlleshi, Brown, Harr, and Ross will compete at the NCAA Division National Championship on March 10-11 in Roanoke, Virginia.
